T. Jauernig Gristle King

The Gristle King ($229 direct) couples Jauernig’s Luxury Drive clean boost and Diabolical Gristle Tone Manipulator overdrive pedals in a single unit. The two may be used individually or combined, and a Pre/Post switch lets you to position the boost before the overdrive to increase gain, or after it to increase the overall volume.

The overdrive section has controls for Gristle (gain), Tone, and Gravy (output level), along with a Flavor switch that toggles between open (“throaty”) and more compressed types of overdrive, and a Phat switch that beefs up the lows. The clean boost section has a single More (boost level) control.

All of the King’s controls are extremely versatile and nuanced, covering a range of sounds from bits of grit to super saturation, with myriad variations along the way—and the pedal sounds sweet and musical on nearly every setting. Goosing the overdrive with the clean boost offers yet more flavors of gain, including simultaneous clean and distorted tones. Brilliant!